Anybody help

[DOM1234]

Hello too eveyone. Ive really been strugaling the past few months im worried sick about scitzophrenia.I have been diagnosed with gad severe deppression and possibly ocd. ive been spending a lot of time on my own recently not out of choice but due too cercumstances. I seem too talk too myself all the time in my head not out loud its like im commenting on things in my head all the time but its my own voice things like ill see someone with a yellow tshirt and say too myself yellow tshirt in my head its really anoying. Sometimes the comment seems too come from nowhere and i think i didnt even think that it just pops in. is this classed as intrusive thoughts and does anybody else think inwords sometimes. i dont think that this voice is anyone elses and im not delusional or paranoid at all its just the fact that the words just pop in my head sometimes also music just starts playing aswell im so scared that im developing this horrible mental illness. I check every thought that comes in my head at the minute because i dnt feel in control anymore. any help would be great thanks

[Captain Caveman]

Hi. My suggestion is that you tackle your fear about becoming schizophrenic like any other theme. SOCD as it's known has the same mechanics at work as all other themes. http://www.ocdonline.com/articlephillipson9.php


Sometimes the comment seems too come from nowhere and i think i didnt even think that it just pops in. is this classed as intrusive thoughts


The below question was posted on Jonathan Grayson's (a specialist in obsessive and compulsive behaviour) website a few weeks ago which. http://www.ocdhelpdoc.com/2009/04/jonathan-grayson/your-questions-answered/

QUESTION from public:
Dear Dr Grayson,
Thank you for the wonderful website. I’m wondering about thoughts arising out of nowhere. I’m not sure they are the same as ‘intrusive’ thoughts as I’m not thinking them.
For example, I could be sitting there thinking about how bad my football team has played of late, then suddenly, something totally unrelated like ‘found the book’, or ‘there were six’ or anything just arises in my mind. The crucial thing here is that I do not (consciously at least) think them.
What are these arising out of nowhere?

Basically then, what are these arising phrases/conversations/words I am having?

ANSWER by Jonathan Grayson:

"This may seem strange to you, but there thoughts are never intrusive — that is, all thoughts are normal, whether they are horrific, abhorrent, or, as you say, random. The human mind is constantly coming up with all kinds of thoughts and situations. What makes a thought and OCD problem is when the individual wants to know something about the meaning of the thought (e.g. Why am I having this thought? What does it mean about me? Will I do something because of it?) or if the individual want the thought to stop. If the sufferer attempts to do either, the thoughts will become more frequent. One reason for this is that if you are trying to avoid a thought, the only way to do so is to look out for the thought, which means you think it and then exactly what you wish wouldn’t happen did. What you are describing sounds like a variation of what we call neutral obsessions. Neutral, because there is nothing obviously horrible or scary about the subject or content of the obsession other than the fact the sufferer is bothered by having the thoughts. If you would like an article on neutral obsessions, go to my center’s website: http://www.ocdphiladelphia.com (http://www.ocdphiladelphia.com/), and e-mail me a request for the article." (here is the article: http://forum.psychlinks.ca/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/17023-the-cruelest-obsession-obsessing-about-obsessing.html (http://forum.psychlinks.ca/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/17023-the-cruelest-obsession-obsessing-about-obsessing.html) )


sometimes also music just starts playing aswell im

Is this anything related to your issue at the moment?: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010605/msgs/65468.html

[DOM1234]

this is extremely helpfull. i thought i was cracking up as my biggest fear is hearing voices but not knowing what its really like makes you wonder. these articles explain alot thankyou so much

[RLR]

Okay, the thought patterns you are describing are merely termed ruminations in this instance and are a common occurrence among persons with clinical depression, with or without anxiety features. The portion of mental rumination which bothers you is known as vigilence, again a common feature of clinical depression.

Realize that persons with actual schizophrenia demonstrate a characteristic known as anosognosia. In other words, they don't realize that they're schizophrenic or that anything is wrong at all. So being apprehensive that you may be subject to the disease is rather clear evidence that it is not present. A great deal of other clinical features, particularly patient history, must be supportive of such a diagnosis as well and by example, the average age of onset is around 20 or so and psychotic breaks as they're termed are highly definitive patterns that must be demonstrated for discrete periods and so on.

The premise of OCD is one of the most misdiagnosed and misinterpreted disorders. Simply because a person experiences repetitive thoughts that may be considered to be obsessive, does not constitute OCD in any form at all. The key feature to the true form of the disorder is actually the compulsory action which serves to oppose and diminish the obsessive form. Most all patients with actual OCD present themselves for evaluation not because of the obsession, but rather the compulsions that become dominant and create interference in their lives. The compulsions must rise to the level, however, of producing emotional dystonia in the affected individual. In other words, the patient feels compelled to carry out actions that have become intense enough to bother them.

A good illustration of my point here would be an individual who feels compelled to tap a street curb exactly 3 times before crossing the street in order to diminish obsessional fear of being struck down by a bus with no ability to predict and avoid such calamity, an example of compulsory action that most often does not rise to the level of dystonic interference in the affected individual's social or occupational life. On the other end of the spectrum using the same basic circumstances, is an individual who upon reaching the street curb, feels an overwhelming compulsion to return home because somewhere along their travels in walking to the curb, they have stepped incorrectly or out of alignment in an manner thought to irrevocably produce the dreaded outcome of being struck down while trying to cross the street. It is important, even critical, to understand that in both examples the obsessional quality is supressed from active thought and sometimes its origin is not even known by the sufferer. The latter tends to be the case in more intense and disturbing cases of the disorder.

Also realize that the nature of the obsession doesn't necessarily have to exist within the realm of tragedy such as that in the example, but is often observed in instances directly associated with violation of social and moralistic norms. In fact, this variant constitutes the more common presentation in a clinical setting.

Incidentally, hearing voices in any context is not construed to be pathological. It can arise in many forms, including the origin of one's own voice to that which is commonly experienced through auditory hallucination. The pathological form encountered most often in the case of actual schizophrenia and similar disorders is that the individual is being both referenced personally by the voice and/or being commanded to take action of some type. It is the elements of personalization and control which constitutes pathology.

You'll be just fine. There is nothing of your observation or complaint that would suggest anything other than features of common clinical depression and in some instances, the mere by-product of social restriction or inadequate companionship, which I'm constrained to point out are circumstances often accompanying the presence of depression and/or anxiety. I suppose my point here is that in some instances, you don't necessarily have to be suffering from a clinical disorder to experience the phenomenon which worries you.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)

[Captain Caveman]

Yes , I guess it depends on how you are responding to the thoughts Dom- whether there are any covert (non-observable) compulsions at play.

[Captain Caveman]

Hi Rutherford. On a side note, what is your opinion on diagnosing people with the likes of "OCD" or all these other disorders that are listed these days? I agree with specialists like Dr Sallee McLaren who writes:

"The main problem with making a diagnosis is that it labels a person. And so that person often then feel like they've got a fixed, often biological kind of condition. That diminishes their motivation from thinking they can change it, and get better. "


If I were a therapist, I would tell a patient that they don't have for example "OCD", but rather they are thinking and behaving in an obsessive and compulsive manner. I wouldn't say you "have" ocd.


Thanks.

[RLR]

The rush to any diagnosis constitutes the inability to ever define it. In most all cases, the patient eventually brings about diagnosis, not the clinician. Additionally, disorders such as those being examined in this thread do not fit neatly within the pages of a diagnostic manual, a premise that is unfortunately believed to be just the case for many contemporary practitioners.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)

[reliefseeker]

When I first started having anxiety and panic, about 15 years ago, I too would worry constantly about having Schizophrenia. It was a very intense fear that would often turn into severe depression. A relative of mine had it and for some reason I thought I would eventually develop it too. This was before I was aware of Pure-O.

It took about 6 months of but I was eventually able to talk myself out of it, with the help of a psychologist. After a year or so had passed I was over the obsession and wondered why I even worried about it.